Microfiber Cloths

Sometimes being a cynic works against me. The corollary to that is—not everything advertised “as seen on TV” is a gimmick. For example, the amazing Microfiber Cloth.

The last couple of times I’ve been in the local CVS store, I’ve seen a display of Microfiber Cloths which are supposed to be the most amazing cleaning cloth ever made. They can be used wet or dry, depending on the situation. They are as absorbent as chamois. They don’t require expensive or polluting cleaning agents to make dirt disappear. Etc. I kind of figured anything that sounded too good to be true was probably too good to be true. And even at CVS’s tempting price of $1 per cloth, I didn’t bite.

Welll. Silly me. Somewhere along the line this past week, I read something on one of the environmental sites that I haunt. Can’t remember which one, but, anyway, the site praised these things to the skies. In their opinion, these cloths are...the best cleaning devices ever created.

So, last evening, I bought a pretty blue one for a measly $1. And brought it home and it sat on the table where I looked at it and still felt a trifle skeptical.

Last night the lad decided to make himself a snack of some fried eggs. And, typically, he left the stove splattered with grease. Ha, I thought. Here’s a good test of just how great this microfiber cloth is. I took it out of the bag and wiped up the grease splatters with the dry cloth. Seeing is believing. I turned on the brightest kitchen lights to see if my seeing was accurate. There wasn’t a lick of grease left and, not only that, there wasn’t a single streak on the stove. I stuck my finger under the faucet and rubbed it across the stove surface. Squeeeak. You can’t argue with squeaky clean.

I rinsed the cloth under hot water and decided to tackle the shiny stainless steel trash can. It always has finger prints on it and dog slobber where Terry rubs her nose against the sides. Usually, (no...always) I have to spray it down with Simple Green to loosen the dog nose gunk before I wash it down with a sponge. I applied the damp microfiber cloth to the lid and the sides and everything came right off. Not a fingerprint or spot was left behind. Absolutely gleaming without a streak anywhere.

I rinsed it out under hot water and noticed that the cloth looked as clean as when I took it out of the package. Dirt clearly does not soak into the cloth in the same way that it does a normal cotton rag. It rinses out. Then I washed down the microwave oven door and the oven door and the dishwasher door and the counter tops and...then the stainless steel sink. Holy cow. I washed all that and only rinsed out the cloth between scrubbings. Everything came out clean and without a streak. In fact, my sink was shinier than I’ve seen it in ages, despite daily cleaning with Simple Green and the dish brush. All by using this cloth and water. I was so excited I could hardly stand it.

Today I tried it on windows and I am even more astonished. Streakless, shiny windows without using any glass cleaner.

So, anyhoo. I did a Google search and found an explanation of the whys and wherefores of the microfiber cloth at Ecomall. I’m guessing that my microfiber cloth will have a relatively short life because it was cheap. I’m not sure how short a life, but even when it quits being effective as a microfiber cloth, it’ll still be fine as a general kitchen rag. In this case, apparently, you get what you pay for. More or less.

I also discovered that Parish Supply Company sells them ($2.09-$2.99 ea.) and they are graded for light or medium duty. The light duty ones can go through 500 hundred washings (in the washing machine) before they lose their effectiveness. For general household use, that would probably mean well over two year’s worth of quality use. The medium duty cloths are good for 1000 machine washes. That’s a long life without the need for all kinds of household chemicals.

Parish Supply company is located in Syracuse, New York. They’ve been around forever and I used to pick up items in the store when I lived there. They mostly cater to the maintenance and janitorial trade so they know their stuff. (They also have the best window squeegees you’ll ever use.) Their site also adds relevant info concerning the cloth’s qualities from effectiveness to the hygenic aspects. Good enough for hospitals and food service outfits is good enough for me.

I’m sold. I’m getting a couple more from Parish, specifically for the bathroom and for gunky cleanups (like dog nose gunk) and another for general household cleaning (like cleaning walls, woodwork, and windows). I can’t believe how well this thing works. Simply amazing.